PC to mobile texting

[khunkeith]

THere are a couple old threads on this topic that have been archieved and I wanted to bump it

Is there a program on line that allows people to send free texts to Thai mobile phones? I have used Chikka to send free texts to friends in the Philippines and am looking for a program to be able to send free texts to me here in Thailand. Is there anything similar to Chika? When I send a text on Chikka to a mobile in the Philippines, it's free for me but, the receiver can do a reply to Chikka for 2.5 pesos v 15 pesos for a direct mobile to mobile text.

Thanks.

[lomatopo]

You can check with Yahoo and GMail but fewer people are using true SMS these days, opting for apps. like Line, WhatsApp!, etc. And operators are closing, or have closed their original "open" gateways

If you have a Thai mobile, your service provider may offer some limited amount of free texts on-net (from/to using the same provider), which can be originated via a web interface. I know DTAC offers this free for the first 50 SMSes per month.

You may also be able to subscribe to some paid SMS services in Thailand, or with your mobile provider?

There are also bulk, paid SMS service providers which allow for PC originated SMSes, typically at a low cost; many have gateways in Thailand with operators here.

[khunkeith]

You can check with Yahoo and GMail but fewer people are using true SMS these days, opting for apps. like Line, WhatsApp!, etc. And operators are closing, or have closed their original "open" gateways

If you have a Thai mobile, your service provider may offer some limited amount of free texts on-net (from/to using the same provider), which can be originated via a web interface. I know DTAC offers this free for the first 50 SMSes per month.

You may also be able to subscribe to some paid SMS services in Thailand, or with your mobile provider?

There are also bulk, paid SMS service providers which allow for PC originated SMSes, typically at a low cost; many have gateways in Thailand with operators here.

I am looking for a way for people that live in other parts of the world to be able to text me, not for me to text them. If you have ever used Chikka (or familiar with it) it's great for texting friends in Philippines and for them to reply at a very small cost.

Not everyone is up to date with an iphone so whatsapp is not an good option to use. I don't have an iphone either, lol. my phoen makes and receives calls and texts, no camera no internet, nothing. it's an old Nokia. :-)

[Neeranam]

You can check with Yahoo and GMail but fewer people are using true SMS these days, opting for apps. like Line, WhatsApp!, etc. And operators are closing, or have closed their original "open" gateways

If you have a Thai mobile, your service provider may offer some limited amount of free texts on-net (from/to using the same provider), which can be originated via a web interface. I know DTAC offers this free for the first 50 SMSes per month.

You may also be able to subscribe to some paid SMS services in Thailand, or with your mobile provider?

There are also bulk, paid SMS service providers which allow for PC originated SMSes, typically at a low cost; many have gateways in Thailand with operators here.

I am looking for a way for people that live in other parts of the world to be able to text me, not for me to text them. If you have ever used Chikka (or familiar with it) it's great for texting friends in Philippines and for them to reply at a very small cost.

Not everyone is up to date with an iphone so whatsapp is not an good option to use. I don't have an iphone either, lol. my phoen makes and receives calls and texts, no camera no internet, nothing. it's an old Nokia. :-)

Well buy a new smartphone - they are cheap and you'll save money with it.

[khunkeith]

You can check with Yahoo and GMail but fewer people are using true SMS these days, opting for apps. like Line, WhatsApp!, etc. And operators are closing, or have closed their original "open" gateways

If you have a Thai mobile, your service provider may offer some limited amount of free texts on-net (from/to using the same provider), which can be originated via a web interface. I know DTAC offers this free for the first 50 SMSes per month.

You may also be able to subscribe to some paid SMS services in Thailand, or with your mobile provider?

There are also bulk, paid SMS service providers which allow for PC originated SMSes, typically at a low cost; many have gateways in Thailand with operators here.

I am looking for a way for people that live in other parts of the world to be able to text me, not for me to text them. If you have ever used Chikka (or familiar with it) it's great for texting friends in Philippines and for them to reply at a very small cost.

Not everyone is up to date with an iphone so whatsapp is not an good option to use. I don't have an iphone either, lol. my phoen makes and receives calls and texts, no camera no internet, nothing. it's an old Nokia. :-)

Well buy a new smartphone - they are cheap and you'll save money with it.

lol, I doubt it. I probably don't spend 200 baht a month for my 1-2 call service now for my old nokia.

[lomatopo]

I am looking for a way for people that live in other parts of the world to be able to text me, not for me to text them.

OK, it always helps when people provide as much detail about their desired application, that way we don't make assumptions or offer advice which is not applicable.

Note that Line has ~ 350,000,000 users while WhatsApp! has over half a billion users. Maybe it's time to jump on board?

I'm not sure there is an easy, inexpensive way for you to originate international SMSes, and/or make it easy/cheap for others to send you/reply to your SMSes. There are some email <--> SMS gateways/services, but this would require your friends to originate an email - which gets delivered as an SMS to you, which from the sound of it, they might be challenged to do?

[Digitalbanana]

You can check with Yahoo and GMail but fewer people are using true SMS these days, opting for apps. like Line, WhatsApp!, etc. And operators are closing, or have closed their original "open" gateways

If you have a Thai mobile, your service provider may offer some limited amount of free texts on-net (from/to using the same provider), which can be originated via a web interface. I know DTAC offers this free for the first 50 SMSes per month.

You may also be able to subscribe to some paid SMS services in Thailand, or with your mobile provider?

There are also bulk, paid SMS service providers which allow for PC originated SMSes, typically at a low cost; many have gateways in Thailand with operators here.

I am looking for a way for people that live in other parts of the world to be able to text me, not for me to text them. If you have ever used Chikka (or familiar with it) it's great for texting friends in Philippines and for them to reply at a very small cost.

Not everyone is up to date with an iphone so whatsapp is not an good option to use. I don't have an iphone either, lol. my phoen makes and receives calls and texts, no camera no internet, nothing. it's an old Nokia. :-)

Well buy a new smartphone - they are cheap and you'll save money with it.

lol, I doubt it. I probably don't spend 200 baht a month for my 1-2 call service now for my old nokia.

I spend a lot less than that on a smart phone. I'm usually logged into a nearby shared wifi network with it to send all my messages.

[khunkeith]

that's the thing. I don't want ot have to buy an iphone or ask friends to buy one. The monthly cost goes up considerably when factoring in the cost of an iphone. that's why I am looking for something like Chikka. I am trying to save money, not spend it.

[lomatopo]

There are decent Android smartphones available in all price ranges.

All internet-based text messaging applications run on a variety of platforms including Android and iOS.

There are ~ 1 billion people using internet-based text messaging.

Many service providers offer extremely low-cost mobile data plans designed specifically for internet-based text messaging.

There may be some internet-based text messaging < -- > SMS gateway service providers.

Traditional GSM SMS services are basically going the way of the telegram, albeit a lot more quickly.

[Carmine6]

I haven't used it in years, but maybe have your friends try yahoo messenger. They put your phone number into the contact list and send a message. You have to reply to the first one or YM will stop sending the messages. I think it'll then send for a while then you have to reply to one again after some time to keep it active. There is a web version through Yahoo Mail so no need to install the messenger app anymore.

• Thailand: AIS, DTAC

https://messenger.yahoo.com/features/sms/

[lomatopo]

Note that a lot of the internet-based text messaging applications can also be run on PCs.

[khunkeith]

thanks for all the help. what is a good brand of smart phone (also cheap) that does both phone internet and wifi internet? I am going to give it a try. But, don't want to spend a lot untill I have tried it. I went out yesterday and looked at smart phones and prices were all over the map. anything from 2000 baht up to 15,000+.

[lomatopo]

I'm guessing you are in Thailand?

There have been many, many, many, many threads/posts here on the topic of purchasing a new smartphone. On the value end, people seem to like the i-mobile IQ series.

http://www2.i-mobilephone.com/

[khunkeith]

I'm guessing you are in Thailand?

There have been many, many, many, many threads/posts here on the topic of purchasing a new smartphone. On the value end, people seem to like the i-mobile IQ series.

http://www2.i-mobilephone.com/

great, thanks, just what I am looking for. I will go look for one next time I go to the mall.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

In terms of Internet messaging from PCs...

LINE has a Windows app, but you need to tie the install to a mobile number capable of receiving SMS's for initial setup. LINE, over the Internet, also enables free voice and video calls to other LINE users, either from your PC or your mobile, assuming the mobile hardware supports that.

Viber and Tango are also popular internet messaging apps for mobiles that also have Windows PC apps, though I believe like LINE, you need some mobile capable of receiving an SMS message for the initial setup. And like LINE, both Viber and Tango provide free Internet messaging to other Viber and Tango users, whether they're using the PC or mobile phone version. Tango also allows for voice and video calls. Viber I believe just allows for voice calls over the Internet, in addition to Internet messaging, last time I used it.

After using all of them, my wife and I have settled on LINE for the time being -- I use LINE on my PC at home and my Android mobile when outside, and she uses on her Android mobile. So basically, we're talking on the phone or via Internet messaging using LINE all throughout the day -- and never using a Thailand mobile calling minute or paying for SMSs, but rather, just via Wifi when at home or work, or data from our phone's mobile data plans when outside. And Internet messaging alone is very sparse on using mobile Internet data.

There's also WhatsApp, which is huge, and comes in app versions for Android and IOS, but also Symbian, Nokia S40 series, Windows phone and Blackberry. On the download pages for both their Symbian and Nokia S40 flavor apps, they list the different Nokia phones that are compatible with those versions, and it is supposed to work with a lot of the older variety Nokia phones -- assuming they have and can use a mobile Internet data package or Wifi.

My wife and I used WhatsApp for a long time, but the reason we eventually moved to LINE was WhatsApp doesn't have a Windows PC version I can use at home, and at least for now, also doesn't support voice calling over the Internet to other WhatsApp users. But for just messaging, because of its very broad support for different mobile platforms, it's quite good.

Meanwhile, there have been recent media reports that WhatsApp, now part of Facebook, is likely to soon include a voice calling feature in its application. But I haven't heard anything about adding Windows PC support.

Edited May 4, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK